THE ASCENDANCY - The Keep - Day 9

  Later that evening, we all sat around the hearth. The kobolds had moved into their barracks, and we sat around a warm fire, passing around a small cup of Kyle's berry moonshine. ARi took her first sip of the spirits, and we all had a laugh as it looked like her face was trying to turn itself inside out.

  "Oh God, how can you guys drink this?" she said, gasping for air. "It burns and it's making my chest all warm."

  Yumi leaned her head on ARi's shoulder. "Sweetie, that means it's working. I'm glad it's not tequila or I'd be dragging my boyfriend back into the room again for more embarrassment."

  Kyle looked up in shock. "I'm your boyfriend?"

  Yumi snapped, "Of course you are, Kyle. Now shush up, the girls are talking."

  We all burst into laughter again. As Kyle sat there looking shocked and not knowing what to do, I heard the door to the den swing open and turned to see four of the kobolds coming in carrying what looked to be a fresh kill from a hunt.

  "I didn't even know you guys had left," I said as Sawyer led Red, Jack, and Charlie into the den, the four of them carrying what looked to be a fresh kill from a hunt.

  ARi leaned forward on the hearth. "Want me to phase that for you?"

  Jack nodded. "Yes, please."

  The catch disappeared as ARi added it to the stores. The four kobolds settled onto the bench next to Kyle, stretching their hands toward the flames.

  "You know we've got plenty of food," I said, watching them warm themselves. "You didn't need to go hunting tonight."

  "It was necessary," Sawyer said quietly, his eyes reflecting the firelight.

  Jack shifted to face me directly. "Architect, we require assistance. The system offers us choices for a new class, but we don't understand."

  "Hey, you don't need to call me Architect." I waved a hand dismissively. "Gav or Gavin, please. When we're in a fight or in front of the others, sure, use Architect. But sitting here at this hearth? We're equals, okay?"

  Their shoulders visibly relaxed. "This is acceptable," Sawyer said. I was beginning to understand that Sawyer only spoke when he had something worth saying, a kobold of few words.

  Jack nodded once. "Gavin, about these choices. We've reached the levels required, but the architect must make the selection."

  I sat up straighter, looking from Jack to ARi and around at the others. "Wait, you guys hit level five?"

  "No," Jack said, and I felt my excitement deflate before he added, "I've reached level seven."

  "I am level seven as well," Sawyer confirmed.

  Red grinned, showing his teeth. "I’m level six. Charlie hit five tonight. That's why we went hunting."

  "Holy shit, that's incredible!" I stood up, unable to sit still. "But why didn't you pick a class already?"

  Jack's expression showed clear frustration. "We can see the options, but only the architect can make this choice."

  "Damn, I had no idea." I ran a hand through my hair. "I wanted you guys to choose your own paths. But listen, none of this comes with instructions, you know? We're figuring this out together."

  I raised my hand and projected my architect interface above the fire, the blue light washing over all of us. "I should've asked first. You guys okay with me displaying these choices for everyone to see?"

  "This is good," Sawyer said.

  "All righty then. Let's take a look and see what we got."

  I moved through the interface and found a list of my current cohorts. Sure enough, I was able to select each of them by name, bringing up their details. Their character sheets looked the same as ours, showing their names and their race, their level and experience, and, of course, their attributes.

  "ARi, is there a way for me to fix this so they can assign their own attribute points? Also, am I seeing this correctly? Do they only get one attribute point to spend per level?"

  "Yeah, it looks like they only get one point, Gav. They don't get skill points like we do either. Their skills are part of your architect class. If they get any from this point on though, it will be from these new class and subclass selections. It looks like after level five, they get two attribute points per level though. And every time they reach a new class or subclass selection, the attribute points will double again, but it looks to cap out at eight. Do you want me to do the same for their subclasses?"

  "No, you'd better hold off on the subclass decisions. According to my architect interface, once I choose this new Earth-based class for them, all of the other shield bearers will have their class changed as well."

  "You'll have to think hard, all of you and the others, about how you want to spend these attribute points though. Some of you might prefer the extra Strength. Some of you might want the extra Agility. Some of you might want to take a different path altogether. Most of the others won't have a lot of say in this new primary class selection, but there's still plenty of room to specialize using those points. Do you understand?"

  "I think so." Jack said.

  "It's okay, Gav. I'll make sure they understand. That way, they can teach the others, too."

  "All right, you guys, I'm gonna pull up the class options now." I waved my hand and changed the projection to show the first class selection for the shieldbearers.

  [SYSTEM WINDOW] SUB-CLASS SELECTION

  Congratulations, Architect. Your first cohort of this class has reached level 5. The burden of command is now able to be spread across competent leaders.

  Each Shieldbearer subclass includes a built-in Command function that creates a simple leadership ladder. At level 5 a cohort becomes a Squad-Leader; a Squad-Leader directly controls three subordinate cohorts, so one leader plus three subordinates makes a full squad. At level 10 the next rank is Cohort-Captain; a Cohort-Captain commands three Squad-Leaders, and each Squad-Leader still keeps their three subordinates, so a Captain is responsible for several full squads. At level 15 the top tier is Legion-Commander; a Legion-Commander commands three Cohort-Captains, and each Captain continues to command its Squad-Leaders and their subordinates, creating a large contingent under a single Commander.

  Architect control is straightforward: you pay a control point only for the top-ranked leaders you field directly. All subordinate cohorts beneath a leader don't consume extra control points, and rank upgrades propagate to the whole cohort family as soon as the first member reaches the unlocking level.

  Architect: choose one of Earth's great empires or cultures and adopt its military traditions. Selecting a culture grants three cohort types and a signature Class Skill for each type.

  Roman-Empire:

  Legionary Spearman: Heavy line infantry trained to hold formation and absorb enemy assaults. Class Skill: Shield-Interlock. While braced in formation, reduces stagger and strengthens cohesion, making it harder for enemies to break the line.

  Principes Swordsman: Veteran shock troops used to exploit breaches and finish wounded targets. Class Skill: Focused-Breach. Deliver a concentrated strike that deals bonus damage to a single target and briefly reduces that target's ability to reform with its unit.

  Velites Javelineers: Light skirmishers specialized in harassment, screening, and rapid repositioning. Class Skill: Skirmish-Volley. Execute a rapid ranged volley that disrupts enemy formation and temporarily slows formation recovery.

  Macedonian-Empire

  Hoplite Spearman: Stout spear-and-shield infantry who form dense defensive lines in close terrain.

  Class Skill: Phalanx-Brace. When set in close formation, increases resistance to pushes and improves counter-stagger against charging foes.

  Peltast Javelineers: Mobile missile troops that harass and create openings for heavier units.

  Class Skill: Evasive-Volley. Fire a mobile volley that lowers enemy accuracy briefly and enables quick disengage maneuvers.

  Hypaspist Swordsman: Flexible elite infantry trained to exploit gaps and assault flanks.

  Class Skill: Gap-Exploit. Gain bonus damage against isolated or staggered targets and increased effectiveness when attacking through breaks in the enemy line.

  Persian-Empire

  Sparabara Spearman: Screen troops who protect formations and absorb incoming pressure.

  Class Skill: Screen-Shielding. Create a close screening effect that reduces damage to nearby squads and stabilizes their formation.

  Immortal Swordsman: Hardened veterans who anchor morale and stabilize nearby formations. Class Skill: Veteran-Anchor. Project a local morale and resistance aura that lowers rout chance and reduces incoming disruption for nearby cohorts.

  Immortal-Javelineers: Specialized javelin throwers trained for concentrated strikes.

  Class Skill: Concentrated-Javelin. Unleash a focused javelin strike that pierces light defenses and momentarily degrades an enemy squad's ability to hold formation.

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  "For crying out loud, Gavin, I swear your windows are the worst," Kyle said, shaking his head. "They're more complicated than ARi's. Even if they could've chosen a class on their own, they still would've had to come over to us and ask, because how the hell would they figure any of this out?"

  I read over the window at least three times before looking down at ARi. "Well, if they were presented some kind of system like this, now we know why they were able to spawn so many constructs."

  Tim whistled as he stood up and scratched his head. "Gavin, are you seeing the scale of this?"

  "Yeah, I am," I said, slowly shaking my head in disbelief. "I've been thinking this whole time that I had to rack up this insane amount of control points. It never occurred to me that the scaling was going to happen through the cohorts themselves."

  I looked back at Jack and the other kobolds. "Do you guys understand what any of this means?"

  Jack slowly shook his head.

  "Okay, forget the Earth-empires stuff for a second. We'll come back to that, okay? The important bit is the part at the top of this window. Essentially what it's saying is, instead of maxing out and only being able to spawn six shieldbearers and four rogues, for example, now that you guys have reached level five, you can be responsible for the squad members underneath you. Like Red's been taking charge of the shieldbearers. Only now it's not symbolic or because I asked you to. It's actually putting control of those units underneath each of you. My control points that were limiting how many cohorts I could bring to this world now revolve around how many Squad-Leaders, Captains, or Legion-Commanders I can field." I paused, doing the mental math. "Once all of you here reach level five, the numbers scale up fast. Three subordinates per leader, three leaders per captain. This thing multiplies quick."

  "Sweet. It makes sense to me," Gav," Kyle said. "They've got the experience now. They'll be able to help teach the ones underneath them. This is going to let us scale our forces up quite a bit, actually."

  "In fact, we might even need to rethink the size of the barracks that we built," Tim added.

  "I agree, Kyle," I said.

  "We need to be careful with a ranking system like this. There's going to be some disconnect at some point. My father used to actually talk about that quite a bit. In Ancient Rome some of their generals would grow in popularity to a point where they could revolt and seize power."

  To my surprise, Sawyer interrupted. "We've heard you speak of these skills of leadership. We're compelled to follow your instruction and to obey. But as we level this becomes less. Kobolds will fight for kobolds and for this world of our origin. But we of spirit are of Earth and will fight for Earth." Sawyer looked to ARi. "My people see you as kin. You've been kind and loyal to kobolds." Turning to look at me, Sawyer's next words caught me off guard. "She's precious to us."

  "You're young," Jack interrupted, "and are still learning, Architect. Although we may not always agree, there'll be no revolt. Because kobolds fight for kobolds and she's kin." Jack looked down to Sawyer and back up to ARi. "And as Sawyer said, she's precious to us."

  A lump formed in my throat. I glanced at ARi, who'd gone still, her eyes bright.

  "Okay," Tanya said after we all sat in silence for a moment. "I think maybe a good course of action's going to be to keep the higher levels of kobold leadership closer to us. They worked their way up to their levels and their ranks, and hopefully that'll keep your disconnect from happening, Gav."

  "Okay, well I haven't spawned in the masses yet," I said. "Our shieldbearers still need to get above five. Fortunately, most of them are pretty close, except for the three new recruits."

  I took a deep breath and looked around the group. "All right, so looking at the actual choice that has to be made here. The basic principles are the same. It looks like we've got the traditional shieldbearer, some kind of missile troops, like javelin throwers, and the addition of some type of skirmisher. From what I can tell, almost all of the skirmishers use swords or some kind of blades too. And that tracks. We were already talking about how Tim's additional sword skills are probably going to come into play. So rather than looking at this particularly for the skills, because they've all got similar type capabilities, I think we should look at this from a research and equipment standpoint. This choice could unlock a door to weapons and weapon types that we don't currently have available, or even to some specialization. Tim, what do you think? Honestly, you're the closest thing to a historian or weapons expert that we've got."

  Tim rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "Well, when it came to the shieldbearers, and even before that, we were already moving down the Persian Sparabara path, specifically with the shields. But there's no rule here that says we can't mix and match. After all, we're representing all of Earth, right?" He gestured at the window. We've already managed to unlock quite a few options from the Persian side of things. I'm going to say we probably go with the Roman Empire. The Romans had already adopted what worked from the Macedonian empires that preceded them. Kind of a two-for-one, if you think about it. They were also a truly professional army--dedicated military resources, especially when it came to their armor and weapons. It's a logical path, Gav."

  "Does anybody disagree?" I asked. "All right then, the Romans it is."

  I selected the Roman Empire option. I assigned Red and Charlie two of the four shieldbearers in the barracks each and spawned two more legionaries to fill out their squads. Both Red and Charlie started to glow as the system recognized them as Squad-Leaders, their new subclasses taking hold. "Charlie, Red, take our two new friends into the barracks and give them a full rundown on everything."

  Red and Charlie struck their chests and ran over to the new recruits, leading them into the barracks.

  "All right, Jack, it's you and Sawyer's turn."

  I waved my hand and brought up the next class-selection window. It looked as though the first half of the window was exactly the same as it was for the shieldbearers. "ARi, can you simplify the window and only show us the options?" I asked.

  [SYSTEM WINDOW] SUB-CLASS SELECTION

  Congratulations, Architect. Your first cohort of this class has reached level 5. The burden of command can now be spread across competent leaders.

  Architect: choose one of Earth's great empires or cultures and adopt its military traditions. Selecting a culture grants three cohort types and a signature Class Skill for each type.

  Feudal-Japan

  Shinobi-Assassin: Covert operatives skilled in stealth, infiltration, and precision eliminations. Class Skill: Shadow-Elimination. Move unseen for a short duration and execute a high-value single-target elimination when conditions are met.

  Onna-musha-Guardian: An elite, bushi warrior class, experts in the use of the naginata.

  Class Skill: Silent-Kiss. Deliver a lethal or debilitating strike that applies an enhanced poison effect.

  Onmitsu: Secret agents focused on intelligence, misdirection, and sabotage behind enemy lines. Class Skill: Misdirect. Create a temporary false target that draws enemy attention and reduces local alertness, enabling follow-up strikes.

  Indic-Traditions

  Vi?akanyā Assassin: Stealthy poison-maiden turned blade-slingers, who blend silent infiltration, crippling venoms, and precision strikes.

  Class Skill: Venom-Edge. Each successful dagger strike increases subsequent poison potency and has a chance to trigger an instant lethal toxin burst.

  Rakshaka Guardian: Ward-binding protectors who tie themselves to a chosen ally, absorb damage, and deliver quick riposte strikes.

  Class Skill: Shadow-Bind. Temporarily tether to a ward, absorb a portion of incoming damage, and trigger an immediate riposte when the bind ends.

  Sikh-Warrior: Agile skirmishers who pair blades with thrown chakram, experts at delivering quick, poison-laced strikes.

  Class Skill: Chakram-Slash. Throw a spinning chakram that strikes multiple targets, dealing piercing damage and applying both Poison and a bleed effect.

  Persian-Empire

  Hashashin: Elite assassins trained to strike without warning and siphon strength from their victims.

  Class Skill: Steal-Valor. Eliminate a target and siphon life and stamina

  Qurchi: Elite bodyguards and close-protectors who combine disciplined formation work with brutal stopping power.

  Class Skill: Sovereign-Presence. Plant a small area aura around the ward that lowers enemy accuracy and increases the ward’s damage resistance

  Immortal Rogue: Seasoned covert operatives who anchor small-unit morale while executing precision hits.

  Class Skill: Veteran-Strike. Execute a decisive blow that grants a temporary resistance penalty to the target.

  "Wow, Gav--again. As Kyle said, your windows are usually pretty intense, and these aren't letting us down, are they?" Tim said, scratching his chin.

  "Okay, so here's how I see it. First off, I noticed it's giving us Persian options again. I don't think that's a coincidence. I think that has to do with how we started our troops off in the first place. They even gave us the option for the Immortals again. Honestly, though, I think this is the first one we should cross off the list. We've already got access to quite a bit of the technology and equipment. Although the Hashashin are literally the original order of assassins--those guys were real boogeymen. That Steal-Valor skill looks pretty intense though. But not enough to continue down that path. I think it comes down to the options from Feudal-Japan or the Indic-Traditions. I'm not trying to be biased toward my own culture here, Gav, I know more about it than I do Feudal Japan."

  "Well, I know plenty about Feudal Japan," Yumi said. "I don't want to know about Feudal Japan, but unfortunately it was part of our education. I think there are plenty of good things we could get from that path. But, honestly, if it's going to bring these options up every time a new class of cohort hits level five, you should save the Japan option for the Kappa. Even though the thought of shinobi turtles is literally the equivalent of a ninja turtle, I'll cry or throw up over that later."

  "If that's the case, Gavin, I say go with the Indic-Traditions. That's going to give us access to some pretty interesting research and weapons," Tim said.

  "Tim," Tanya interjected, "weren't the Vi?akanyā female assassins? If I remember right, didn't they kill with their blood or bodily fluids? Like--a kiss?"

  "That's the idea," Tim said. "It'll be interesting to see what it assigns as a subclass to our current rogues. I don't think they're going to get that. My guess is Rakshaka or the Sikh-Warrior."

  "Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?" I said.

  I selected the Indic-Traditions. I opened my architect interface and selected Jack and Sawyer. I assigned Sawyer three of the Sikh-Warriors and Jack three Vi?akanyā, and spawned them into the world. Jack and Sawyer's bodies glowed for a moment as their new subclasses took hold, showing in my interface as Kobold-Rogue Sikh-Warrior Squad-Leaders. ARi's smile grew ear to ear as she dismissed a new window she was reading and looked down at the little rogues.

  "In the barracks, you guys are going to find circular blades called chakram. I modified the design so they work with our new poison. Your new 'Chakram-Harrow' skill'll have a bit more kick now," ARi said.

  "Thank you, Gavin. Thank all of you," Jack said. Sawyer nodded in approval as they started toward the barracks.

  "Hold on, you two." I gestured to the six new rogues standing in the middle of the den. "You're forgetting your squads."

  I walked over and kneeled beside Jack. "It's not going to be a problem that I brought these girls into the mix, is it?" I asked, referring to the three new rogues standing in the middle of the den.

  "If you're worried that they'll receive undue attention, you shouldn't; this isn't our way," Jack said cautiously. "Those ones scare me."

  "Well, you'd better get over that, buddy." I gave him a pat on the back. "Those three are under your command, Sawyer. The other rogues are all yours, Jack."

  Both rogues struck their chests and went to retrieve their recruits, heading back to the barracks.

  I started back toward the hearth, stopped for a moment after thinking about it, "Jack, best to explain to all of the others about their nature, right?"

  Jack nodded in agreement. I went back to the hearth and sat down next to ARi.

  "That's cruel, Gavin," Tanya said, shaking her head. "You introduced three girls to a whole barracks full of guys. And I'm pretty sure those girls are completely poisonous to the touch."

  "Yeah, I don't know how much of that's actually true," Tim said. "They were poison experts. But whether or not they could kill by touching someone... I don't know."

  "Nevertheless, Tanya, why don't you, Yumi, and ARi head into the barracks? ARi's going to explain the attribute points to all the kobolds now that we've spawned all that I can for the moment. You guys can figure out what our new friends need so they can be safe. If it turns out their touch is poisonous, we might want to think about getting them some kind of gloves or something."

  "Sounds good to me," Yumi said, jumping up, excited.

  The girls headed into the barracks. I looked back at Kyle and Tim. "I think things are about to get quite a bit more interesting around here, boys."

  "Gav, things are going to get quite a bit more crowded down here, is what's going to happen," Kyle said. "I'll work on the new barracks with ARi in the morning. I'm going to have Jack hold off for one day, at least, before he heads out. I think it'd be better if he took his new squad with him."

  "I agree," Tim said. "It'll make that trip a little harder for them at such a low level, but I think having those girls with him could potentially open doors that he couldn't open on his own."

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